Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, says he expects that President Donald Trump will lie to Americans over a border crisis this week. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by David Paul Morris

Photo: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign clapped back at U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, after Castro posted online the names and employers of San Antonio’s 44 most influential Trump donors.

“Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump,” tweeted Castro, who serves as chairman for his twin brother Julián Castro’s presidential campaign, on Monday.

“Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders,’” Joaquin Castro added, a reference to Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, which authorities say was carried out by a gunman who has been linked to a hate-filled manifesto against a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Among the donors Castro identified were Balous Miller, owner of the Bill Miller BBQ restaurant chain, Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury, developer of the Pearl entertainment district, and real estate agent Phyllis Browning. Neither Goldsbury nor Browning were immediately available for comment Tuesday. The three have given $5,600 to Trump, the maximum allowed per candidate, per election cycle, federal elections records show.

It’s striking that Castro would lash out at members of the business community in the city where he and his brother have been an institution for more than a decade — and where elected officials are cautious about picking battles with business interests. Julián Castro was mayor from 2009 to 2014 and spearheaded a revitalization of the downtown. The Pearl has been instrumental to that effort.

Two of the businessmen Joaquin Castro called out for giving to Trump, William Greehey of Valero Oil Company and Wayne Harwell, have donated to his congressional campaign in the past, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. Greehey gave Castro a total of $10,000 in 2011 and 2013, and Harwell gave $1,000 in 2011.

Tim Murtaugh, Trump’s campaign communications director, called on Castro to delete the tweet, and for Julián Castro’s campaign to disavow it.

“Democrats want to talk about inciting violence? This naming of private citizens and their employers is reckless and irresponsible,” Murtaugh said in a statement Tuesday. “He is endangering the safety of people he is supposed to be representing. No one should be targeted for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political beliefs.”

Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz joined the conversation, calling Castro’s tweet “WRONG” and saying he should retract it.

“EVERYONE needs to tone the hateful partisan rhetoric way down,” Cruz tweeted. “ In our constitutional Republic, the People rightly hold their representatives accountable; elected representatives should not be vilifying & doxxing their own constituents.”

Castro responded to critics on Twitter, saying that the information he shared “doesn’t have private or personal info — no addresses or phone #, etc. It’s publicly reported info printed in newspapers routinely.”

Sami Sparber is a reporting intern at the Houston Chronicle's Austin Bureau. She is a junior at The University of Texas at Austin studying journalism and government. Sami is the news editor at The Daily Texan, and previously reported on politics for the student-run campus newspaper.